Original subtitles

Rrator: Tonight on the curse of oak island...

-gary: I've got a hit here.

-Ooh, it might be gold. -Jack: That's gold, isn't it?

Wow! Hey, hey!

This is more high-end. Somebody with money.

It could have been for a secret box.

Aaron: We're getting remnants of maybe the money pit.

Wow. Okay, that's wood well below any expected depth.

-Wow. That is an "aha." -yeah. -Marty: We got

to keep drilling, because that could be the money pit itself.

-Yes, it could. -Drill.

Narrator: There is an island in the north atlantic

where people have been looking for an incredible treasure

for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it,

mysterious fragments of human bone,

and a lead cross whose origin may stretch back

to the days of the knights templar.

To date, six men have died trying to solve the mystery.

And, according to legend,

one more will have to die

before the treasure can be found.

craig: Hey, guys.

-Hey, craig. -How we doing?

Not too bad.

Interesting stuff.

In situ.

In situ material here.

Okay.

Narrator: It is the start

of another exciting day on oak island,

as brothers rick and marty lagina,

along with their partner craig tester

and members of their team,

continue a strategic core-drilling operation

in the money pit area,

in search of a fabled treasure vault

that people have been trying to unearth since 1795.

Marty: The drilling program needs to be done,

because a lot of our wells stopped short last year,

the year before.

We weren't... We weren't looking that deep,

and when we ran into difficult-to-drill conditions,

we stopped.

So we need to go deeper,

because that's where it's possible

any treasure fell to.

And before we give up on the money pit,

we need to know that.

Did that go right into a full piece of wood,

-too, it looks like? -Terry: Yeah, it looks like

a pretty good chunk of beam.

What depth is that?

-That's at 156, exactly. -Okay.

-Yeah, I think it's encouraging. -Yep.

It went from formation rock directly into a full-sized beam.

-And so it... -Yeah.

It had to have completely pushed over,

-or we're coming on down on top of a tunnel. -Yeah.

Narrator: As part of a strategic drilling grid

designed by craig tester,

the team is currently drilling borehole de-9.25,

which sets some ten feet from the oc-1 shaft

that was constructed one year ago.

It was in oc-1 that the team discovered evidence

of a wooded tunnel some 150 feet underground

that was dated to 1706,

meaning that it could very well be connected

to the original money pit.

So, embedded sediment, as in undisturbed,

and then into some wood.

You got to really hope that we have finally found

-our elusive tunnel. -Scott: That's really the only thing

that it could be right now that we know of.

-That's right. -Terry: So, for as far

as proceeding on this hole, would you like to carry on

-just a little deeper to see if we hit the bedrock plateau -yes.

-For the information? -Yep. -Steve g.: I think if we

can confirm this is the potential tunnel from 1706,

-we keep on taking shots. -Terry: Yep.

I mean, we could have 300-year-old wood.

-We need to bring up more. -You got to chase it.

-Absolutely. -Craig: I wouldn't mind

-having a treasure, too, coming out of there. -That was my thought.

You take the wood, I'll take the treasure.

Terry: A chunk of gold or silver would be nice.

I'm gonna go talk to mike and tell him

-we're gonna go a little deeper. -Okay. Sounds good.

Hey, mike! We're gonna take it a little deeper.

At least ten feet, if not 15 or so,

-to try and get into the bedrock plateau, if it's there. -Okay.

Terry: However you want to proceed with due caution

and try and get us the next sample below, that'd be great.

-Use your best instincts and go for it, okay? -Tedford: All righty!

Craig: I wanted to follow that tunnel

to see where it goes, so that's what I'm all about this year.

I've got four or five locations picked out

to see what direction that tunnel will go.

Is it the vault that we've been looking for?

Is it a flood tunnel?

Or is it a tunnel that leads far away? So...

We just have to find out where that tunnel is

and where is it going.

Terry: One, two, three! Yeah!

-All right. -There you go.

Craig: Well, I'm hoping there's a little more wood in there.

Terry: That is pretty murky.

Whoa. Okay, there's a little chunk of woody.

We seem to have little splinters periodically.

Scott: We got a big piece right here. Look at this.

-Charles: Yeah. -Terry: Yeah. -Scott: That's strange.

-Oh, yeah. -That is odd.

Craig: We're way too deep, though. This is 185.

-Charles: Yeah. -Wow. Okay, that's wood well below

any real expected depth.

That is some of the deepest wood we've seen.

That's too deep for what the hamilton extension would be,

-for sure. -Charles: Yeah, exactly.

So that's unexplained.

Narrator: In the summer of 1940,

team members working under professor erwin hamilton

constructed a six-by-six-foot extension

onto the hedden shaft...

A 12-by-24-foot structure

built by treasure hunter gilbert hedden in 1937,

down to a depth of 124 feet,

which was believed at the time

to have intersected the original money pit.

According to historical records,

the so-called "hamilton extension,"

which reached 170 feet deep,

is the deepest man-made structure

to have been built by searchers after the discovery

of the money pit in 1795.

Is it possible that craig and the team

have found the workings

of someone prior to any search operations on oak island?

And if so, could it be the key

to locating the money pit treasure vault?

You know, but just seeing where this is going...

-Charles: Yep. -I think we need to be taking it deeper.

-Terry: I vote yes. -Craig: Why don't you guys

kick that around while I head back to the swamp.

Uh, let me know

if you hit anything on this next run.

-Okay. -Okay, guys.

-Charles: Okay, see you later. -Craig: See you in a bit.

Narrator: While the drilling operation

continues at the money pit,

in the triangle-shaped swamp,

as rick lagina, dr. Ian spooner,

and metal detecting expert gary drayton

continue searching for valuable clues

along the mysterious stone-paved pathway

discovered earlier this year in the southeastern corner,

archaeologists dr. Aaron taylor, liz michels,

and miriam amirault, along with jack begley,

continue to carefully clear away the muck and mud

from the feature's surface.

How's it going?

Jack : Hey, craig!

-Look at the road we found! -Craig: It is amazing.

Jack: There's no mistaking, this is a cobbled road.

There is no doubt. I mean, this is obvious.

Jack: Yeah.

-gary: That's solid. -Yeah, that's a good one.

Narrator: Over the past two years,

rick, marty and the oak island team

have discovered incredible evidence

of man-made workings within the swamp.

It began with a 200-foot-long anomaly

detected some 50 feet deep by seismic scanning,

resembling the shape and size of an ancient sailing ship.

Gary: Oh, look.

Narrator: This find was followed by numerous pieces

of burnt metal and wood that were all determined

to have come from a ship.

However, the most astonishing finds

included a circular formation of boulders

at the northernmost point, known as the eye of the swamp,

which dated to 1680,

as well as a massive stone-paved feature

dating all the way back to 1200 ad.

Now, could the discovery

of this stone pathway, which the team believes

may also be heading in the direction

of the money pit itself,

be the key to revealing the swamp's ultimate secrets

and solving the oak island mystery?

Well, this is amazing.

-Aaron: It doesn't get better than this. -Craig: Yep.

-Okay, well, I'm gonna see how they're doing. -All right.

Craig: You guys find anything more over there?

No. Surprisingly little.

Okay.

Rick: What I wouldn't give for a whole keg

to be down there, full of something.

Craig: Right.

Ian: I'm interested in if we find another structure

or an artifact that puts the whole...

-Operation here in perspective. -Yeah.

-rick: Whoa, whoa.

Craig: Is that a...

Square beam there, or is that just a log?

Rick: Looks squared off.

Ian: I'll get in there, craig, take a look.

Heads up, bill.

Are you gonna pull it out?

Yeah.

But, again, it's a squared-off beam

with... But it ain't fancy work.

No.

Narrator: A wooden beam?

Discovered next to the stone pathway?

Could they be connected?

Or has billy gerhardt just found a different man-made structure?

Ian: Well, that's good.

Gary: Rick!

I've got a hit here.

I got a definite hit, rick.

-it's just in there, mate.

Anywhere you like.

Just on the top here. Then I can see it.

Oh, you got it out. Let's see what we got.

look at that.

-Whoo-hoo!

gary: Look at that!

Wow. That's bloody brilliant.

It might be actually gold.

Narrator: In the oak island swamp,

metal detection expert gary drayton

has just made an exciting

and potentially important discovery

while investigating a man-made stone pathway.

That's in great condition.

What is it?

Gary: That is a-an old handle.

And it looks like it would be off a boat, probably.

Narrator: A gold-colored handle,

possibly from a ship,

and found near the stone pathway in the swamp?

Could it be connected to the mysterious ship-shaped anomaly

found last year in the middle of the swamp?

And could it also help explain the purpose of this pathway,

or possible wharf, in the southeastern corner?

Look at that.

Very fancy.

Look at that. Could be a low-grade gold.

Feel the weight of it.

For its size, it's heavy, mate.

I wouldn't be surprised if that ain't gold-plated, mate.

-Whoo-hoo!

gary took his pinpointer and found this object.

You could-- I always look at gary's face when he's...

Got the pinpointer looking for whatever's in the hole,

and his face lit up like a christmas tree.

Come over here, dr. Spooner.

Rick: It's what appears to be a knob, and it seemed

very, very heavy.

But the metal is untarnished,

and gold

would remain untarnished in that ground

for however long this item's been in the ground.

-Ian: What is it? -To me, it looks like a...

Looks like a-a fancy knob.

-For a drawer. It looks like a... -Yeah. Yeah, like a dr...

-Fancy drawer knob or... -Gary: Yeah.

Like, it looks like it was on a...

-Like, a-a ship or something. -Yeah.

-Jack: Wow. -Gary: And, obviously,

in this area, it was probably off a ship.

-Jack: Really? -Gary: But that's a really fancy handle.

I wouldn't be surprised if that ain't gold-plated.

Jack: You think it could be gold?

Uh, laird-laird's coming over.

Gary: Look at that color, man. That...

There's a good chance that is gold.

Jack: I think you're right, though, gary.

-That's gold, isn't it? -Rick: Come on in, laird.

Look at that.

I always burst people's bubble, though.

Uh-oh.

-Uh-oh. -That's all right.

What is it?

Laird: It looks like gold paint.

Oh, but then that looks better.

-Yeah. -Yeah, that-that back. That's what really caught

our attention, the back.

I mean, that looks solid, doesn't it?

And I was thinking maybe it's gold-plated or low-grade gold.

If it was ten-karat gold, a lot of gold off the shipwrecks

in florida, spanish gold comes up,

and it's got that same patina.

Didn't like that.

I like that.

Well, it looks relatively soft. I mean,

-it looks like it was a knob. -Gary: Yeah.

To me,

this looks like it was off an old sailing ship.

And if it was, it came off a captain's quarters.

We can definitely get that tested.

Did you find anything else with the knob?

Not yet, and that's why we need to get back to it.

Gary: This is fantastic.

Narrator: While rick lagina continues to oversee

the exploration in the swamp,

later that afternoon...

Terry: This material is

somewhat soft and loose.

I think it's close to something.

It's pretty deep, though.

Narrator: Craig tester has returned

to the money pit area

to supervise the core-drilling operation

of borehole de-9.25

as they continue to drill

through a mysterious wood structure

more than 185 feet deep.

This is definitely unknown.

Terry: No, that's unknown. We've never hit wood

that deep or-- not at that size.

Craig: The other thing is, this is darker,

which, to me, is just verifying

that for an extended period of time,

it's been in this dark material,

where this one's actually absorbed

kind of this... Whatever's causing the darkness

out of this muck here, so...

No, the grains are running this way, too, here.

I just wanted to make sure.

Okay, I'm good. We can bag her.

Charles: You know, the deepest anybody's ever excavated

in the money pit area is 171 feet.

This is at 180.

This is deeper than anybody that we know of

has ever gone in the money pit.

This has turned into confusing and then,

wow, you know, some great revelations.

Deepest wood ever.

: Which is neither here nor there unto itself,

but what the heck's it doing down there?

-Craig: Yes. -Who put it there?

Is it part of an old collapse zone

-or part of a tunnel nearby? Yeah. -Terry: Yeah.

Possibilities for this hole are-are very interesting.

I mean, there-there is nothing in the historical record

of any, you know,

shaft or-or tunnel that went that deep.

You know, especially a tunnel.

-Yeah. -Absolutely.

-Craig: Okay, guys. -Okay.

-I'm gonna get after it. -Charles: Catch you later. -Okay.

Keeps getting more and more interesting.

Narrator: Later that afternoon...

Marty: Hey, craig. What's the update?

Narrator: Craig tester meets with marty lagina

in the war room to update him

on the latest developments from the drilling operation

at the money pit.

-So, this is oc-1. -Yep.

Craig: You know, where there shouldn't have been

any wood. It was definitely a tunnel.

So, that's why we decided

to put oc-1 here.

Brought up that wood

that dated to 1706.

-You got to chase that. Mm-hmm. -Yeah. Yeah.

So, there was a number of places that this tunnel could lead to.

Um, so I started out

right here on e-12.

Unfortunately, as you can see, this one walked this way.

-Yep. -that ended walking

under where we dug.

It's a pity, because that means that hole

-gave you no data whatsoever. -Exactly.

-It didn't hurt, didn't help. -Yep.

Okay. Where'd you go next?

Well, then I moved up to, uh,

de-9.25.

This is the location right here.

So far, it's going off to the southeast,

which is directly towards oc-1.

-Marty: Mm-hmm. -Craig: We got to 180 feet.

-Marty: Yeah? -Craig: And we brought up

two pieces of wood. Um...

One at 180, one at 181, I believe it is.

Uh, basically, the size of this pen.

Well, what could have been from the record at 180 feet?

Nothing from any of the records we have. I mean,

could it have been-- especially when it's,

you know, a splinter this size--

could it have been a collapse of the money pit? I mean,

-we have no idea how far it collapsed. -Oh, there you go. There you go.

That seems like... Well, I mean, if you look

at the historical record, that's the only thing

-that was down that deep, right? -Right.

It's subtle, craig, but that could be an indication.

I mean, you-you can't...

You can't ignore data.

-No. -So, and-and much as I'm tired

of finding wood, wood at 181 feet

eliminates an awful lot.

It's definitely a mystery.

Well, that's cool. Maybe keep... I would say

keep drilling. Are you all d...

You're still running, right? Right now?

Well, we're debating whether to go deeper.

-Marty: No, go deeper. We got to keep drilling. -Craig: Okay.

Because that could be

part of the collapse of the money pit

or it could be the money pit itself.

Yes, it could. Definitely.

-Drill. -Okay. We'll do that.

-We will keep after it. -Get on out there. Don't...

-Don't let them stop. All right. -Okay.

Marty: I'll see you out there

-in a little while. Thanks. -Craig: Okay.

Narrator: While the excavation continues

in the oak island swamp

and as the core-drilling operation resumes

in the money pit area...

-Aaron: Hey, scott. -Scott: Hey, aaron.

Thanks for coming.

Narrator: ...Archaeologists dr. Aaron taylor,

miriam amirault,

and liz michels, along with scott barlow,

are concluding their investigation

of a mysterious feature that has come to be known

as the serpent mound

due to its oddly perfect snakelike shape.

Aaron: So, we, uh, been spending the morning

with trowels and sifting all this stuff.

I'm wondering if we can just pull this back?

-Sure. -Aaron: What do you think the likelihood is

of doing a cross section

on the other side of this birch tree?

Pulling back right here, if you can get a setup.

'cause that'll give us the body,

the egg and the mouth.

Okay. Just let me get set up over here,

and we'll get to work.

There are serpent mounds in canada

and in, uh, in the united states.

The body is quite easily identifiable

as a serpent, and at the mouth

of some of these mounds is

what they call an egg.

This sort of looks like it. It's much cruder.

But the only way to figure it out is to...

Is to excavate it.

So, you've, you've gone to till there.

You want it widened out any, or just that one swipe...

If you could widen it out a bit,

-that would be great. -Okay.

Oh, that's interesting.

Narrator: Over the last two weeks,

the oak island team has found

not only an early 18th century handwrought spike

matching one recovered from borehole oc-1

in the money pit area

but also burnt charcoal

that, incredibly, dated back much earlier.

Craig: That one had a date

of 1320 to 1440.

-Jack: What? -Rick: Wow.

Narrator: These discoveries have led the team

to speculate that the so-called serpent mound

is not only man-made but possibly connected

to a previous excavation of the original money pit.

The questions they are still trying to figure out

are: Was it deliberately shaped like a serpent?

And if so, why?

And what else might be buried within it?

That's perfect.

-Just like that? -We're at till, yeah.

-Okay. -That's great. Thanks, scott.

-No problem.

all right, well I'll let you guys do your thing,

and hopefully you come up with something good and...

-All right. Yeah. -...Something exciting.

Thanks. All right.

We're at the bottom.

If it was something, there'd be, definitely,

intentionally placed stones, but there's none of that.

Yeah. No.

Yeah, you can see the old root layer

-right here. -Mm-hmm.

Looks like fill, feels like fill.

Aaron: Yeah.

-Whoa. Yeah. -Wow, they've done a lot of work.

Definitely. These are all new spoils.

Rick: This looks a lot different...

-Miriam: Hi. -...Than the other day.

: Yeah.

Rick: We have aaron and miriam working

quite diligently at the so-called serpent mound

to determine whether or not this mound

was a significant archaeological find.

Uh, I was just tidying up the profile and, um,

there's no structure to this, it just looks very rubbly.

-Did you guys want to come by and take a peek? -Gary: Yeah.

Want to get in there, rick?

Aaron: That's the original forest floor.

Gary: So, that's the interface from the forest floor

-to the fill. -Yeah.

Rick: That's forest floor there?

Aaron: That's forest floor.

-Rick: Hmm. -Aaron: Yeah.

Rick: So neither of you think

this is built.

I.E., it's just rubble.

It's rubble.

-Yeah. -Rick: So, as far as this feature is concerned,

you're both comfortable with an acknowledgment

that this is not what we had

-initially believed it to be? -This is absolutely not

a serpent mound, no.

There's no structure. It-it's a, it's a depo--

it's a spoil pile.

-Mm-hmm. -From where and when

-is the really interesting question. -Right.

-Yeah. -Rick: Scott and doug,

I believe, have put this forward, is that this

are spoils from the money pit,

and they were dumped up here to keep them away

from the dig location.

That's the only possible explanation.

-And, again, more questions than answers. -Yeah.

Absolutely.

Is it really a...

A-an original human construct from long ago

or is it an amalgamation of both?

Maybe an original feature there and then it was destroyed

or at least added to by some sort of modern work

with mechanized equipment.

Again, we're at a confidence crisis

in terms of our belief of-of what this structure represents.

So, now that you've made a definitive statement

that this is not a serpent mound feature, I mean,

I would like you to devote your efforts now to the swamp.

Yeah, I-I completely agree.

Yeah. While the weather's still good, I think our priority

-should be the swamp. -Mm-hmm.

Narrator: Now that archaeologist dr. Aaron taylor and his team

have concluded that the mysterious mound

is most likely a spoils pile from a previous excavation,

and likely not a feature that will yield any more clues

or objects of value,

they will now refocus their attention

back to the swamp and the stone-paved pathway.

Our focus at this point should be the stone road feature.

-Yeah. -I'd like to concentrate on where the road does go.

Whether it goes to the paved area

or whether it comes upland.

Wherever it goes, that's what we need to concentrate on, so...

-I agree. -If we can do that tomorrow

-and in the forthcoming days, that'd be great. -Miriam and aaron: Yeah.

Well, we're gonna head there right now and see what we find.

-Rick: Okay. Perfect. Thank you. -All right.

Rrator: As a new day begins on oak island...

-Craig: Hey, here comes rick. -Terry: Yep.

Narrator: ...In the money pit area,

rick lagina and oak island historian doug crowell

have just arrived at the site of borehole de-9.25

after being alerted that more evidence of man-made workings,

possibly connected to the original money pit,

have just been discovered some 180 feet underground.

-How you doing, rick? -Hey, rick. -Hi, guys.

Well, you've certainly piqued our interest, that's for sure.

Terry: Very, very interesting wood hit at depth in de-9.25.

A relatively thick chunk of beam with no particular origin

that we can think of at a depth where it seems to match well

with the f-11 tunnel series

that we confirmed last year with oc-1.

Rick: No way to tell if this is

vertical or horizontal?

It appears horizontal.

Terry: The top of a tunnel support beam perhaps.

So, we liked it. It looks like a tunnel.

The question is: Which tunnel?

One of the options is, we could be inside the money pit.

-That's pretty exciting. -Craig: Yes. Oh, wow. -It is.

-It is. -Yeah, definitely.

And then, at 180 feet, we found

these two pieces of wood.

-180? -180. Yeah.

-Wow. -Terry: Way too deep.

Craig: We've got this vertical-looking pieces of wood

that don't look anything like the stuff from above.

We've never found anything that deep before.

And there was, what I would consider,

good, solid, competent rock

for at least five feet above this.

-Wow. That-that is an aha. -Yeah.

Terry: Absolutely.

Narrator: A tunnel

beneath a five-foot layer of solid bedrock?

If craig's assessment is accurate,

it would mean that this tunnel may very well be connected

to the original money pit

and hopefully provide a direct pathway

to the fabled treasure vault.

Terry: Something's going on in this whole area,

uh, whether it's tunnel or collapsed money pit.

That's what we got to try and figure out a-as we go forward.

What about for this hole, craig? What are you thinking?

Keep going.

-See what's down below. -Yeah.

Rick: What's the thought, then, about

carrying this down to 200? 210?

I think absolutely.

Rick: When you get the results here,

any information we get from these deeper holes,

please send it on.

The truth is, we don't know exactly what this means.

-That's why we're here. -Yes.

And if my brother's right

and if we're close to a treasure vault,

then kudos to everybody.

-it's a great day.

-Terry: Absolutely. -And it's only just begun.

-Exactly. -Okay?

-Thanks. -Thanks, guys. -Yeah. Okay.

Appreciate it.

Steve g.: I think we should probably run this to bedrock.

210 and to two feet later-- that's all we need.

Yeah, for sure.

all right.

Charles, I'm gonna operate, okay?

Go ahead.

narrator: Having now reached a depth of some 210 feet,

terry matheson and charles barkhouse

inspect the final core extracted from de-9.25

for any more potential evidence

of the original money pit treasure shaft.

What do you think, charles?

Pretty undisturbed material, I'd say.

-Terry: Look at that bedding. -Yeah.

It's beautiful till.

It's a little soft.

Very clay rich.

No particular evidence of a tunnel

or any kind of a structure, though.

All as mother nature left it.

Narrator: Unfortunately,

no more evidence of human activity has been found,

as rick, marty and craig had hoped.

However, since they did find incredible evidence

of a wooden tunnel at a depth of some 180 feet,

they can now drill a new adjacent hole

along craig's grid plan

to hopefully continue tracing it to where it leads.

Clear.

You all good, terry, on this one?

Uh, yes. Let's note it and move on.

Narrator: While terry

and representatives from choice drilling

prepare to reposition the drill rig

at the next borehole on craig tester's grid,

charles barkhouse joins rick lagina

as they meet with rare coin and artifact expert sandy campbell

in the oak island interpretive centre...

Sandy.

-Hey, rick. -...To get his analysis

of the gold-colored object found one day ago by gary drayton.

Charles: It's from the swamp.

Sandy: Wow.

-Rick: And-and deep. -Yeah.

-Oh, really? -Rick: About three or four feet down.

Sandy: Wow, that's cool.

Rick: Gary believed

that it was gold.

sandy: You know, I-I think it's quite yellow.

But let's-- you know, let's clean it up.

-Sure. -Let's put some water in here

and have a peek.

I'm curious what we might see.

Well, if you're curious,

-we certainly are. -Yeah.

narrator: An ultrasonic cleaner

is a device that works by creating

high-frequency pressure in water

to thoroughly but gently clean objects

without causing abrasions or damaging them.

Charles: You know, after sandy's initial impressions,

he decides to put it in the ultrasonic cleaner

to pull out any details

either on the obverse

or on the reverse of the knob.

Sandy: Let's take a peek.

Definitely found in a swamp.

There's a lot of dirt coming from inside.

Rick: Hmm.

Sandy: This is really...

Quite odd.

I mean, you can tell by the workmanship,

it's far from modern.

Or it could be some kind of a-a knob from a jewel chest.

Does that mean that it's something from more high-end?

-Oh, I-I would think this is more high-end, yeah. -Yeah.

Sandy: Yeah, for sure, you know, probably somebody with money.

It could have been just for a secret box.

who knows?

My question is, what was inside it?

-yeah. -You know?

I know. What was inside the box?

It's funny, though, out in the field

we thought that had the appearance of gold.

Sandy: No, this here screams brass.

Really?

If it was gold,

that color would be a higher karat.

-It wouldn't be ten or... -Mm-hmm.

It'd be, like, 18-karat or-or 20-karat.

It would have a little more weight

'cause gold is much more dense than, than copper and, and zinc.

Although, you know, under a loop it does have a really,

you know, close resemblance to gold.

Rick: So, sandy affirmed

that it was not gold or gold-plated,

but what he did attest to is the fact

that this was an item not of common usage--

it was indeed a high-end item--

and that, in his belief, that it came from a chest.

That's interesting, but it's not definitive.

What is a high-end chest pull doing

three or four feet down in a swamp?

It's certainly an interesting piece.

I think we've done as much here--

you've done as much here-- as we possibly can.

-Yeah. -I can't say it often enough--

we thank you for your assistance.

Well, the journey is really the treasure.

-It absolutely is. -Uh, but let's not rule out,

-you know, a big bag of gold at some point, so...

we appreciate the help, sandy, we really do.

-Thank you. -Yeah, I appreciate the opportunity.

-Charles: See you later. -Sandy: Take care.

Narrator: Later that afternoon, as archaeologists laird niven,

miriam amirault, liz michels, and dr. Aaron taylor,

along with charles barkhouse and surveyor steve guptill,

search through the spoils

removed from the stone-paved pathway,

rick lagina and metal detecting expert gary drayton

are searching the feature itself.

Okay, so, what have you found so far?

Uh, all the orange flags are mine.

-These? -Yeah.

Rick: Really?

Gary: Yeah, all the orange-red flags

-are us. -So, are we going to dig it?

I'd like to dig 'em up.

Do you want me to start?

-Yeah, please. -Which one?

Two flags over here.

Okay.

yep, it's underneath that branch here.

My guess is, it's right underneath her.

rick: Does not want to come out.

Did it come up?

Uh, it'll snap off.

It's really loose on that end.

I don't think that's going anywhere.

rick: Let's see if we can get it out anyway.

Oh, that's a, that's a timber.

That's big.

That's a nice-looking piece of timber, isn't it?

Yeah, it is.

There is wood there and it's got iron in it.

-Mm-hmm. -And it's got a--

some kind of iron fastener in it,

which will be interesting if it's still in the wood.

-This could be something. -Yeah.

Narrator: A wood timber found alongside the stone pathway in the swamp?

And giving off strong signals for iron?

Could it be part of the structure?

And if so, could it offer clues

to help identify when it was made?

What do you think is the best plan of attack, rick?

I don't know.

I don't want to damage it.

But you can't leave that iron fastener there, mate,

not without knowing what it is.

I know you.

Oh, no, it's coming out.

-it's just a matt-- it's just a matter of,

are we going to manually dig it

or are we going to mechanized dig it?

Scott, can you come on over a minute?

We've got a piece of wood in there,

but gary has detected a piece of iron.

-Right, gary? -Yeah, there's definitely

an iron fastener in that wood, and...

-That's right. -...It looks,

-that wood looks old, scott. -You see right here?

Scott: Yeah.

So, I just want to get this out of here

and maybe this and then just gently scrape.

Don't-don't dig.

-Just kind of scrape. -Yeah.

Then we'll try to dig it out.

Plow that back in the bucket.

-Yep. -All right.

Gary: We have a signal in the wood.

This is deep, and that gives us real good context for this find,

'cause if this is an old iron fastener

and it's still in the wood, then the wood and the fastener

is really old.

Rick: Get that out first.

Gary: That's a big old boulder, isn't it?

-Rick: Yeah, it is. -Wasn't expecting that.

No.

Can you just move it?

Well, it's right here.

That is an impressive piece of timber, rick.

It is, and it's cut.

And it's cut.

put your metal detector down there.

-See it?

ooh, yeah, look at that.

Yeah, that's a screamer, mate.

That's a good chunk of iron in there.

that's a beauty. Look at that.

That is gorgeous.

That is a really old spike.

That kind of dates this timber.

I mean, that is really old.

At least 1700s by the look of that spike.

Narrator: In the oak island swamp,

rick lagina and gary drayton

have just made what could be another important discovery

while investigating the massive stone pathway:

A hand-cut wood timber

containing a potentially ancient iron spike.

We need to find the extent of it.

I think it's hand digging at this point, right?

-Gary: Yeah. -Scott: I think so, yeah.

You don't want to move it,

and if she's butted up against there, it could snap it.

Yeah, we'll dig it up by hand and then we can put it

in the bucket and take it over there

-and wash it off. -Yep.

Gary: Whoa, watch yourself...

Look at that spike sticking out of there.

-We got two of them. -Wow, look at that.

Gary: Let's stand it up and get it out.

That is gorgeous. Look at that.

And the fasteners in situ, look.

Rick: Well, they're spiked two different ways.

Scott: Yeah, that's what I was just thinking as well.

The head's coming in this way,

and this one's coming in that way.

Why is that?

This is a big spike.

This looks boat-related to me.

Scott: Well, if you were going to build a dock,

you'd want to build it out of timbers

-sized like this. -Gary: Yep.

Narrator: Could gary drayton be correct that he and rick have found

the remains of a ship's dock in the swamp?

And connected to the massive stone pathway?

If so, could it offer more evidence that the stone feature

was used to transfer something of great value onto oak island?

Rick: The wrought iron spike was an outlier.

That was an aha moment because

in my mind I'm framing up this concept

that this is just a cobbled together, uh, structure

that facilitates some sort of cantilever bridge

for probing in the swamp.

And then gary pulls out this spike--

it's certainly handwrought, it's certainly old.

Hey, steve, can you come over?

We need you, young man, to gps this log,

which was found in that trench.

Sure.

So, this would have been roughly the surface location?

-Gary: Yep, that's correct. -Okay.

here we go.

Rick: It's confusing.

Surely they would use that spike in this structure.

It's an oak island tease, you know.

You-you think you have an understanding

of what you're looking at and then, all of a sudden,

you pull up something that's just an outlier,

so then you start extrapolating on that idea.

"okay, we need to dig further, we need to dig deeper."

marty: We clearly have to follow the stone pathway

all the way 'cause it's enigmatic,

it's got artifacts on it, it's very old.

So what's it there for?

You know, how does it fit in with the treasure story?

So we have to find it, we have to follow it to where it leads.

I believe we're going to get some answers

off this, rick, for sure.

I hope so.

That was worth fighting for.

Oh, yeah.

It's just one little iron hit can lead

to something fantastic like that.

Rick: That was pretty cool.

Narrator: For rick, marty, craig, and their team,

the clues that may soon reveal the answers

to the 225-year-old oak island mystery continue

to emerge both near the surface and deep below ground.

However, they also offer more tantalizing questions.

Might the team really be on the verge

of discovering the original money pit

and a vault filled with incredible treasures

and priceless documents?

Or does the swamp ultimately hold the secrets

that generations of people have searched for

and so far have cost six men their lives?

The laginas are now on a promising path,

but just where is it leading them?

Next time on the curse of oak island...

-Marty: Wow. -Charles: This is the tupper shaft,

-which was ten feet away from the money pit. -Great, guys.

Ian: I think we're sort of on to something right in here.

-There's a lot of rocks. -Yeah, they're fitted.

-Ian: Oh, yeah, something was built here. -Yeah.

-Oh. -What is that?

-That's leather. -Looks like a heel from a shoe.

Yeah, something like that could be a breakthrough.

Craig, what do we got?

95% sure, 1492.

How about that?

Medieval, baby.

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